Flames suddenly find their offensive stride, scoring four times to down Avalanche

Calgary had been held to just a single goal in their previous four contests, all losses

Calgary Flames left wing Jiri Hudler celebrates his goal in the second period of an NHL game against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Monday. He later set up the game-winner late in the third period with a phenomenal pass from the corner to Mike Cammalleri.

Photograph by: Joe Mahoney
, AP

DENVER — Of late, as everyone is painfully aware, Calgary Flames goals have been harder to come by than a ’63 copy of No. 1 The Amazing Spider Man comic book or an authentic Shakespeare signature.

Famished for some offensive sustenance, they pigged out for four — after scoring just one in their previous four starts — at the expense of a the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.

And Jiri Hudler, bypassed by the Czech Republic earlier in the day for the Sochi Olympic Games, sparked the desperate Flames by scoring once and setting up Michael Cammalleri’s game winner in a 4-3 morale-booster.

“(Shane) O’Brien said to me before the game: ‘I’d put my money on Hudes to play well tonight’,” said Cammalleri afterwards. “The first goal, we’ve been trying to get more traffic and win more puck battles and he did exactly that. On the second that he was involved in, it’s just him making a fantastic play in front of the net.

“He’s disappointed (about the Olympics). It’s a big deal to anybody.”

Cammalleri’s power play strike, scored at 16:30, came with the Avs serving a minor penalty for too-many-men.

“I don’t know the actual stats on it, but you’ve gotta score three or four to win in this league. Teams average 2.X goals a game, right? So the numbers would say you need to find a way to get three or four.

“I thought the power play goal was a result of just a compete level. Even the power play before things didn’t go our way but we were winning puck battles, guys were working really hard, having that 5-on-5 fight mentality. (Joe) Colborne won a bunch of ’em, and he wins a battle to keep that puck alive on the last goal, too.”

The Avalanche had drawn level at 9:33 of the third period, Paul Stastny accepting a Gabriel Landeskog near the side of the Calgary net, pirouetting to the front and tucking the puck behind goaltender Karri Ramo.

Stastny collected three points for the Avs. But the night belonged to Hudler.

“This morning, he was very disappointed, so I thought it was useless to talk to Jiri at that time,” said Flames coach Bob Hartley. “But right before the game, I took a little walk here with Jiri. He knows. People sit in a room and there’s debates and you get picked or you don’t get picked. Everybody wants to be in the Olympics and represent their country.

“So it’s a huge disappointment, but we saw that he’s a pro and he did it in a very good way.”

The win ended a four-game losing streak and was the Flames’ first regulation win since December 4th.

The Hudler go-ahead 3-2 goal late in Period 2 was a thing of beauty.

A Mark Giordano shot from the point glanced off the Avs’ Jamie McGinn then hit goaltender J.S. Giguere and dropped down. His back to the net, the wily Hudler calmly backhanded the puck between his feet AND then Giguere’s to count as opportunistic a goal as you’ll see.

Super rookie Nathan MacKinnon, beginning to find his stride after a fairly quiet beginning to what will be a lengthy, illustrious NHL career, netted his second consecutive two-goal game, Nos. 13 and 14 on the season, to pace Colorado. Monday marked Game 5 of seven straight at the Pepsi Center,

In direct contrast, the comeback win injected some much-needed life for the fast-fading Flames as they head to Jobing.com Arena in Glendale for Tuesday’s encounter against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The second period seemed to be droning to its inevitable conclusion, the Avalanche ahead 2-1 and on cruise control when out of the mists, from nowhere, nothing, the Flames equalized 2-2, Joe Colborne tipping a spin-around T.J. Galiardi shot from near the blueliner behind a startled Giguere at 15:10.

Colborne’s first goal in 18 starts.

Then one for the highlight rule: Hudler’s between-the-feet piece of magic 2:18 later.

The Flames certainly got off to the start they wanted, as it took them a mere 1:08 to dent a sleepy Avs’ defensive fortification, Sean Monahan stopping up 15 or so feet out and the Giguere-stopped rebound of his shot glancing off the skate of a backchecking Jamie McGinn and in.

An assist for Lee Stempniak on the play ended a personal 12-game pointless streak, dating back eons, or more precisely to Dec. 10th.

Didn’t take the Avs long to answer back, though, a slashing minor to Michael Cammalleri the culprit. Ramo’s stick appeared to knock the puck over the line — ever-so-s-l-o-w-l-y — after rookie Nathan MacKinnon spun from in tight, at the near post and attempted to jam a shot past the Flames’ netminder.

That little imp MacKinnon was back again, on Colorado’s second PP of the night (Flames whistled for too many men), whipping a Paul Stastny pass from the high slot that Ramo got a piece of but failed to collect.

For all the work he had to do through an Avalanche-dominated first, long-ago Flame Giguere could’ve signed up for an online real estate course to fill the down time.

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Calgary Flames left wing Jiri Hudler celebrates his goal in the second period of an NHL game against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Monday. He later set up the game-winner late in the third period with a phenomenal pass from the corner to Mike Cammalleri.

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